Lummi dialect facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Lummi
Xwlemi
Region	Pacific Northwest
Language family	Salishan languages Coast Salish Central Straits Salish North Straits Salish Lummi

Lummi (Xwlemi Chosen, IPA: [xʷləmi tʃɔsən]) is a dialect of the North Straits Salish language traditionally spoken by the Lummi people of northwest Washington, in the United States. Although traditionally referred to as a language, it is mutually intelligible with the other dialects of North Straits.

Lummi language is still spoken on the Lummi reservation and is taught at Ferndale High School, Lummi Nation School, Vista Middle School, Horizon Middle School, Skyline and Eagleridge Elementary Schools, and the Northwest Indian College.

Phonology

Consonants
		Bilabial	Alveolar			Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
		Bilabial	central	sibilant	lateral	Palatal	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	plain	p	t	ts		tʃ		kʷ	q	qʷ	ʔ
Plosive/ Affricate	ejective	pʼ	tʼ	tsʼ	tɬʼ	tʃʼ		kʷʼ	qʼ	qʷʼ	ʔ
Fricative				s	ɬ	ʃ		xʷ	χ	χʷ	h
Sonorant	plain	m	n		l	j	ŋ	w
Sonorant	glottalized	ˀm	ˀn			ˀj	ˀŋ	ˀw

/ts/ phonemically occurs only rarely within vocabulary.

Vowels
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid/Open	æ	ə	ɔ

Vowel sounds /æ, ɔ/ may also be heard as more mid or open as [ɛ, ɒ].

All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:

Lummi dialect Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.